Episode 365 - The Man with Glasses Had a Lot of Other Shit

·35 min·3 clips

A forgotten silent film comedian was once so rich and famous that his story will blow your mind.

The episode begins with a rant about simplistic business advice, using the apocryphal story of FDR's war strategy napkin as an example. The host then transitions to discussing how fame fades over time, citing examples like Johnny Carson and Michael Jackson. This leads to the introduction of Harold Lloyd, a silent film star who was immensely popular but is largely forgotten today. Lloyd started his career in small roles for Keystone film comedy shorts and eventually developed his own character, 'the man with glasses,' which audiences loved. In 1919, he suffered a severe accident when he mistakenly lit a real bomb, losing a thumb and forefinger. Despite this, his career flourished, and he is best known for the stunt of hanging from a clock in the film 'Safety Last.' Lloyd formed his own production company and earned up to a million dollars per picture in the 1920s. He used his wealth to build the Green Acres estate, a massive property with extravagant features like a nine-hole golf course and a 900-foot canoe stream. The estate was worth an estimated $90-100 million adjusted for inflation. Lloyd's career declined in the 1930s as his optimistic character felt out of touch during the Great Depression. He retired and sold his estate to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which built the LA Temple on the land. In retirement, Lloyd pursued hobbies like photography, notably collecting 3D nude photographs of models such as Betty Page and Marilyn Monroe. He also had a passion for stereo sound, which he played so loudly it damaged his mansion. A fire in 1943 destroyed many of his films, and he was saved by his wife while trying to rescue them. The episode concludes with a humorous segment about the host's hypothetical billionaire vanity projects and a reference to Bob Vlasic's pickle advertisements.

As heard by us

Packaged wisdom, climate advice, and a disastrous prop bomb collide in a loose, sharp bit of film-history comedy.

Climate-change advice and a wild bit of film history get pulled into the same comic argument about tidy solutions, bad incentives, and safety failures that should have been obvious much sooner.

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Why you'd press play

Press play when you want climate-change panic, FDR napkin mythology, and one wildly bad prop-bomb decision to collide.

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